Friday, December 2, 2011

Christmas Tradition

Can anyone believe that it is December? It is actually December 2nd now! I don't know where November went, but it went quickly! I have 22 days to complete any Christmas shopping that I have to do. Our family tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve and leave Christmas Day to remember the reason for the season. Santa started coming to our house on Christmas Eve when I was around 7 years-old, it seems. I think my parents had a long conversation with him explaining that they didn't appreciate getting up in middle of the night to open gifts. He listened and has followed through with making a stop at our house on Christmas Eve ever since.

Christmas Eve is a wonderful day in the house. We go out for pizza, in NY it is always Pizza Hut. Here in UT, it will be somewhere else. The nearest dine-in Pizza Hut is over an hour away. Yes, UT consists of lots of take-out Pizza Huts. We are trying to decide what pizza place will be getting our business. It also depends on the weather that day. I am not going to travel too far in snow. We do have a favorite pizza place in Ogden that I would like to go to.

Next, we see a movie. I am not sure I will be participating in the movie viewing this year. My baby will be a little under 3 months old and may not make movie viewing enjoyable to others. I missed the movie 4 years ago when I had a baby that was 4 days old. It is okay to miss the movie to make life better for other movie goers. After the movie, we hangout at home for a little while until it gets dark. We then go and look at Christmas lights. In NY, we would go to a park that they put a lot of decorations in and walk around. We would then drive up a hill and look down at the city. The city always seems magical that night. We then drive around town and look at lights that people have put up at their houses. Santa comes during this time so excitement builds up with the children (and the adults) with every house we see.

We then return home and open gifts. It is wonderful to see the happiness in the children's eyes with the gifts they open. Santa is a good man and his wife must be wonderful too! We then have doughnuts and orange juice. By this time, we are usually so stuffed that we put the fudge and Hickory Farms Beef Stick on hold until Christmas. I love Christmas time. I am going to miss sharing it with my family back East. The tradition will continue here though. When I lived here several years ago, I made sure to keep it going, and that will not change.

Just a reminder, please vote for The Dilleys at www.facebook.com/homedepot. They are my in-laws and could really use the help. You can read their story there as well. You will have to scroll past the pictures to find the button to vote. They are one out of nine families chosen for the Gift for Good for a $20K home makeover. You can vote daily through Dec 9. Thank you!